The emperor declined the honor, jocularly remarking--
"There is no method more pleasant to kill an old man, than to marry him
to a young bride."
The German empire was then divided into ten districts, or circles, as
they were then called, each of which was responsible for the maintenance
of peace among its own members. These districts were, Austria, Burgundy,
the Upper Rhine, the Lower Rhine, Franconia, Bavaria, Suabia,
Westphalia, Upper Saxony and Lower Saxony. The affairs of each district
were to be regulated by a court of a few nobles, called a diet. The
emperor devoted especial attention to the improvement of his own estate
of Austria, which he subdivided into two districts, and these into still
smaller districts. Over all, for the settlement of all important points
of dispute, he established a tribunal called the Aulic Council, which
subsequently exerted a powerful influence over the affairs of Austria.
One more final effort Maximilian made to rouse Germany to combine to
drive the Turks out of Europe. Though the benighted masses looked up
with much reverence to the pontiff, the princes and the nobles regarded
him only as a _power_, wielding, in addition to the military arm, the
potent energies of superstition.
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